Metal News for March 20, 2011

We post metal news every day, throughout the day, covering thousands of metal bands including underground and unsigned bands. You are currently browsing the news archive, but you can also find news by band.

23 news articles posted on this day.

Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci has posted the following update online.

"First I'd like to say that my love and support goes out to all of our friends in Japan as they work through the tragic events of the past week. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your families. I know that the strength of the Japanese people will prevail.

"As for the new Dream Theater album, it is going incredibly well and I can't wait for everyone to hear it! We are in the tracking process and working hard as well as just having so much fun.

"I appreciate everyone's patience regarding the announcement (or lack thereof!) of Dream Theater's new drummer. I know it has been very frustrating to have to wait for the news. Believe me, we are bursting at the seams to tell everyone and rest assured that our decision will not disappoint on any level!

"As for info and details on the new album, anything such as the title, song names, running times, artwork, direction etc, will be posted on the official Dream Theater and Roadrunner sites once the album is complete and we begin to prepare for its release.

"Looks like the start of our next world tour is lining up nicely as well. It's always great to be over in Europe during the summer playing out doors and seeing all of our friends again.

"In the meantime, I'm just shedding, lifting and buried deep in the making of the new album. My beautiful Music Man's and Boogies are raging and there are many notes flying around the studio!

"I hope everyone is well. Thank you so much as always for being such amazingly supportive friends and fans!"

Machinae Supremacy has posted its new music video online. The video was shot for the track "Force Feedback" which is taken from its 2010 album "A View From The End Of The World," which was issued through Spinefarm Records.

Video footage has surfaced online of Wolf performing its brand new song "Skull Crusher" live for the first time. You can check out the video in the player below. Wolf's new album "Legions Of Bastards" drops on April 26, 2011.

Atlanta, Georgia metal act Becoming the Archetype has posted the second clip in an ongoing video series to promote its forthcoming new album. The new album, titled "Celestial Completion," is set for release on March 29th through Solid State Records. You can view the album's tracklisting below:

Footage from the bonus live DVD being included with Amon Amarth's forthcoming full length album "Surtur Rising" has surfaced online. The bonus DVD is titled "Bloodshed Over Bochum" and is included with various editions of "Surtur Rising," which will be released on March 29, 2011 through Metal Blade Records. You can view the footage below.

Mike Pilat, known for his previous work fronting German progressive metal act The Ocean has formed his own new band named Collusion. You can check out two brand new songs from the band below which are taken from the group's debut self-titled album.

Footage has been posted online featuring Canadian melodic metal act Blackguard performing on The Daily Habit. Blackguard is set to release the new album "Firefight" on March 29th, 2011. You can view the performance clip below.

"Man Strikes God Falls," a brand new song from Polish black metal act Mastiphal, is available for streaming on the band's official MySpace page. Click here to check out the new track.

The song comes from the band's new album "Parvzya," which is scheduled for release on May 15th, 2011 via Witching Hour Productions. The teaser trailer for "Parvzya" is also available for viewing at this location. Additional details on the album's track listing and artwork will be announced as they are made available.

Israel based metal act Soul Torture has issued the following announcement about lineup changes and working on new material:

"Hey everybody! Things have been in a bit of a turmoil recently. We've lost a serious portion of our tracks to power outages, not to mention a founding member, Dima, who sadly went on to pursue other interests, and Danny. Things are back on track though. Our lineup is once again complete (welcome Denis and Dave!), we are rerecording all that we've lost, hoping for a summer release!

"Once all that's done, we're shipping the tracks off for mixing and mastering (tentatively scheduled to work with Mr. Cole Martinez of Conquistador Studios!), but until that's done, we thought you might enjoy a quick on-the-spot mix of one of our songs, 'Something Wicked This Way Comes.' Enjoy!"

You can listen to the track "Something Wicked This Way Comes" through the Soul Torture MySpace page, or check out the band's previously uploaded cover of the Arch Enemy track "End of the Line" here.

Svartsot has checked in from Lasse Lammert's LSD Studios with the following report about the band recording a new album:

"Day 7: Rhythm parts finally completed. Some guitars were also re-amped. Time to celebrate a bit before concentrating on the bass parts. Then going on with the more melodic elements of the album. A few beers were drunk to celebrate.

"Day 8: Bass recording commenced today. Looks like it's a walk in the park for James. He's playing really tight. It's just been heads down work today, apart from the huge wiener-schnitzels we had for lunch and the numerous cups of tea James claims he needed.

"Day 9: All acoustic and electric bass was completed today. James decided to make a pie in celebration. He couldn't find something big enough to make one pie in, though, so he made 2 instead. We should be starting on lead guitars tomorrow.

"Day 10: After accidentally going to town last night, and consuming an extreme amount of beer, we had a late start today. Cris decided to concentrate on three of the less complicated songs, and managed to nail them. More...

Leaves' Eyes has posted the following message online to the people of Japan in regards to the recent disasters:

"Message to Japan: Our hearts and thoughts belong to Japan and the people who are suffering at the moment!

"To the politicians: Why something like this has to happen until you realize you should not play with fire if you can't control it - Stop the nuclear madness! Now! The Leaves' Eyes and Atrocity family."

Leaves' Eyes also recently announced two upcoming U.K. shows with Visions of Atlantis. Information on the tour dates is available here.

Former Dio members Craig Goldy (guitars,) Rudy Sarzo (bass,) Simon Wright (drums) and Scott Warren (keyboards,) has announced that they will be embarking on a tour of Europe together with Toby Jepson (Fastay, Gun) and former Judas Priest/Iced Earth and current Yngwie Malmsteen and Charred Walls Of The Damned singer, Tim "Ripper" Owens. The group will be touring under the name Dio Disciples and will be performing some of the late heavy metal legend's most classic material.

A message from Wendy Dio, the wife and manager of Ronnie James Dio, had this to say about the tour: "There will never be another Ronnie, but we want to keep his music alive and hope you will support the band and become one of the DIO DISCIPLES. We will post the UK/European tour dates as they are confirmed, and we are planning some US dates also. Hope to see you at one of the shows."

Thrash metal was unquestionably a phenomenon considering it reached heavy metal fans all over the globe without ever really becoming mainstream. It also spawned numerous scenes in countries such as Germany, Great Britain and even Brazil. Despite it’s wide travels though, a lot of thrash novices are still surprised that even Australia had a premier thrash outfit during the 1980s. That band was Mortal Sin. The group was formed in Sydney in 1985 by singer Mat Maurer and drummer Wayne Campbell before quickly recruiting bass player Andy Eftichiou and guitarists Keith Krstin and Neville Reynolds, though Reynolds was to befired by the band for being unable to make their first show and was replaced by Paul Carwana. Gigging relentlessly, the band built up a strong following in the Australian metal underground and soon recorded a full length demo tape entitled, "Mayhemic Destruction," which rapidly won the band a record deal with British label, Phonogram Records, who released the album internationally.

They next recorded their sophomore album, "Face Of Despair," which was produced by Randy Burns, who was known for his work with other big name thrash metal bands such as Megadeth and Kreator. The album took the better of a year to recorded and distributed but soon after the record’s release, the band received further exposure by being booked to support Metallica on their Australian tour. Following the tour, Campbell was sacked from the band and the group brought in Slaughter Lord drummer Steve Hughes, who now works as a stand up comedian and has appeared on numerous television shows, to sit behind the kit. They then left the land down under to perform shows in Europe and the United States but once they returned home, Maurer announced he was leaving the band, which soon led to it’s demise, though a new incarnation formed afterwards and, while popular, soon folded ultimately split for a number of reasons.

In 1996 however, the band reunited with most of the, "Face Of Despair" lineup, though Carwana was to take leave almost immediately after reforming. Nevertheless, the band soon recorded a new EP entitled, "Revolution of the Mind" and embarked on a national tour, which did not fare as well as the band hoped and caused them to once again split in 1998. Once again however, the band would rise from the ashes, thanks this time to Maurer and Eftichiou, who enlisted the help of other musicians to bring back Mortal Sin. The band soon found themselves performing at such events as Wacken Open Air and sharing the stage with the likes of Michael Schenker and fellow Aussies, Rose Tattoo. The comeback was well received and the band then recorded their fourth release, "An Absence Of Faith," which was released in 2007. Since then, the band has continued to perform regularly and has supported such big names as Judas Priest, Testament and Overkill, as well as touring in South America, as well as releasing a live album entitled, "Into The Inferno," with a new album expected to be released by next year. More...

Ahhhh, death metal. Until tonight I hadn’t been to a proper death metal show in a couple of years at least, if not longer, so when I opened the doors to Reggie’s Rock Club in Chicago’s Near South Side, the stench of decaying flesh wafted into my wanting nostrils and refreshed my soul. Spiked gauntlets and shinguards, bullet belts, corpsepaint, unending blast beats, lots and lots of huge buckles, long black coats – all the pleasantries of a death metal show were coming back to me in trigged kick drum style as I boldly strode past the merch table. The Apostles of Darkness Over The Americas Tour was in town, and headliner Rotting Christ had brought along a bag of very special guests: Melechesh, Hate, Abigail Williams and Lecherous Nocturne. Unfortunately I had a sustenance occasion that precluded my arrival in time for Lecherous Nocturne, but the folks I chatted with said their tech-death was precise and heavy. More...